El Paso City Council moves comments to midday

Newly elected mayor Oscar Leeser presides over his first council meeting after being sworn in Monday night at the Plaza Theatre. (Ruben R Ramirez/El Paso Times)

One of the first decisions of the new City Council was to move public comments during meetings from the morning to lunchtime.

Call to Public, which allows residents to speak to the council, will be held at 12:15 p.m. in the future, as opposed to 8:30 a.m., as it had been previously.

The El Paso City Council approved the change with a 5-3 vote during Tuesday's meeting. East Side city Rep. Michiel Noe promoted the change as a way to hear some new voices.

"I just wanted to open it up for as many people as possible," Noe said. "The people who are retired can come at anytime, but the people who work usually can't."

REPORTER

Aaron Bracamontes

East-Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin, Northeast city Rep. Carl Robinson and Eastridge and mid-Valley city Rep. Lily Limón voted against the change, saying that it makes it harder for residents to speak.

It was the first meeting for Limón, West-Central city Rep. Larry Romero and Mayor Oscar Leeser, who were elected in the June 11 runoff.

Call to Public is a time when residents can speak for about three minutes on any topic not on the agenda. Other items must be commented on at the time the agenda item is being discussed.

Noe said several residents of his district have told him that they want to speak to the City Council, but that they could not come in at 8:30 a.m. without missing work.

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"They mention it all the time saying, 'I can't come because work, but I could if it was later,' " Noe said. "I'm pretty sure the other city representatives hear the same."

South-West city Rep. Cortney Niland said she also had heard several complaints from people who have to be at work at 8 a.m. but wanted to speak.

But opponents said moving the Call to Public to 12:15 p.m. was a way to restrict the public from speaking.

"If it's not broke, don't fix it," Robinson added several times during the discussion.

Holguin and Limón said it was not fair to assume everyone had lunch around noon and added it would take too much time to drive to City Hall.

"In my previous experience as a supervisor it was usually easier to give someone time off in the morning instead of lunchtime," Limón said.

But Noe said most of the speakers at Call to Public are at the meeting all day anyway.

"I don't understand the opposition at all, unless you are trying to prevent new people from talking," Noe said. "The people who traditionally are here at 8:30 a.m. are traditionally here throughout the meeting. They can be here at noon."

East-Central city Rep. Emma Acosta asked city staff to look into the possibilities of taking public comment over Skype or recorded videos. Acosta said the city should take advantage of the technology available.

To compensate for the change, the start of City Council meetings was moved up 30 minutes to 8:30 a.m. At 12:15 p.m. the council will take a break to listen to Call to Public.

Aaron Bracamontes may be reached at abracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6156. Follow him on Twitter @AaronBrac